Teeing Up Success at Long Cove.
PLEASURABLE vacation days with a young family at the beach can turn into a home built on dreams and hard work on Hilton Head Island.
That’s how Don Calhoon found his way from Ohio to Long Cove Club, a nationally recognized community, and where he sits as president on the club’s board of directors.
Recently chosen by The Boardroom magazine as one of its Private Club Presidents of 2008, Calhoon’s success in a career where he retired as executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Wendy’s International Inc., continues to serve him well into his “retirement.”
In 2004, he became a full-time resident at Long Cove and was asked to organize an ad hoc communications committee for the club. This meant that Calhoon and his wife Joanne got involved early in the Long Cove community calling it “phase two of our lives.”
The job as the president of the board demands, “a tremendous amount of time, courage…focus and commitment,” he said.
“When you’re in it, you’re in it, and you can only do the best that you can do,” he said.
To continually improve the membership experience, Calhoon uses common sense to lead the community and believes in a simple approach.
“Give it your all, tackle difficult and pleasant issues,” he advised. “In the end, you ask yourself, ‘Did I help?’”
Participating on the board at Long Cove is a voluntary position. Currently, there are 570 members of Long Cove Club, selected as one of the top 100 golf courses in the United States, and described as “a hidden gem in the Lowcountry” by reviewers at World Golf.
Long Cove also boasts of a world-class tennis facility and has just completed a rebuild of a marina enabling larger boats to dock at Long Cove.
“The boats are back!” Calhoon said.
A former board president explained to Calhoon that whoever is president of the Long Cove board is the right guy at the right time. And Calhoon is now getting some assistance in overseeing the club’s amenities. In a hiring and selection process that lasted eight months, an exploratory committee chose David Loan as the new general manager.
Loan quickly went to work overseeing the rebuild of the marina, renovation of the golf course, and work on the lagoon. As Calhoon points out, “no one does it on their own.”
Calhoon and the board have a 3-to-5-year strategic plan in place. When asked if current economic conditions have hindered progress at Long Cove, he said the community is fortunate and continues to thrive.
One of the most generous communities on Hilton Head, Long Cove supports the Long Cove Club Community Endowment Fund donating nearly $200,000 since its inception in 2003, awarding 13 area charities a total of $56,625 in 2008.
Diversity, transparency, consensus building and tireless efforts in communication are the qualities that spell success for Calhoon, and translate into a premier lifestyle at Long Cove.
“It is a very inclusive management style,” he said. “You have to put your arms around the community. You have to embrace the diversity of members, the diversity of opinion, the diversity of needs and desires, and find the unifying element in order to achieve any kind of success and move the ball forward.
“The whole thing has to be done with transparency and it’s a team effort by the board,” he said.
After his term expires, Calhoon looks forward to returning to and enjoying “a casual life,” rejoining his golf partners on the exquisite fairways of the club’s Pete Dye course. He will have earned his leisure, but it is doubtful Calhoon will be any less an exemplary contributor to Long Cove and the greater Hilton Head community.
